Taylor Hendricks Needs More Opportunity in Second Jazz Preseason Bout

Should the Utah Jazz top 10 selection get more playing time during his second run?

One of the more prominent highlights of this past offseason for the Utah Jazz was the decision to bring in F Taylor Hendricks with their 9th-overall pick in the draft. Selected from UCF as a lengthy and versatile forward, he fits the mold of a typical Danny Ainge type of player for this new roster with plenty of size.

However, despite his impressive physicals and traits coming out of the draft, things have been relatively slow to get moving during the start of Hendricks’s career. We didn’t see him take the floor during Summer League due to a nagging hamstring injury, eventually moving focus up to the preseason for fans to get a first look at the rookie.

And while we got a chance to see a glimpse of Hendricks during Sunday’s preseason debut vs. the Los Angeles Clippers, it was pretty limited. He only appeared in twelve total minutes, all within the fourth quarter. During his stint, he posted three points and four rebounds.

Considering the stock invested into a player like Hendricks, it would be reasonable to expect to see a bit more action in a preseason game. Especially for a team still standing in a rebuilding stage like Utah, accelerating the growth of young prospects should be a heavy focus of this coaching staff.

Hendricks entered the league as a more “raw” prospect, so his NBA readiness might not be exactly on par with some of the other rookies, but that’s even more reason to give him some play early in the preseason. The quicker that Hendricks can establish himself as a cornerstone of this franchise, the more steps forward this team can take.

It’s only one game, and it’s only preseason, so it’s important not to overreact with this small sample size. Still, finding a route to an increased workload would be a welcome sight for Jazz fans hoping to see their youth flourish sooner rather than later.

Hendricks will get another chance to find more minutes during the next Jazz preseason game on Tuesday at 7 PM MT vs. the Clippers at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

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